Author: MDI Armenia

The international journalistic community had to observe the appalling actions of the Belarussian authorities. On 23 May, the government of the country resorted to unprecedented steps with a view to arresting Roman Protasevich, author of Nexta opposition Telegram channel by means of forcing a Ryanair airplane to land in Minsk. And this is not the first incident of unlawful actions in respect of journalists in Belarus. Many colleagues of our have been for years persecuted in this country, and such practices intensified after the disputable presidential elections in 2020.

In December 2016, the head of state Alexander Lukashenko was directly involved in the arrest and extradition to Azerbaijan of Alexander Lapshin – a traveller and a blogger. The official Minsk had dismissed the fact that Lapshin was a Russian and Israeli national and that he was in Belarus for tourism not having violated any law. It is known that the European Court of Human Rights issued a judgment against Azerbaijan in the case of Lapshin on 20 May, 3 days prior to the incident with Protasevich upholding allegations against Baku in subjecting Lapshin to torture, attempted murder, as well as forgery. The ECtHR judgment was an indirect condemnation of the Belarussian authorities’ impermissible actions which are seen as a clear challenge to the international community and international law.

We, the underisgned Armenian journalistic organisations, call on the world leaders to take decisive and strong measures against regimes infringing the principle of freedom of expression and tightening pressures on representatives of the media. Both Armenian and foreign media representatives suffered considerably during the 44-day war in Artsakh and as citizens and journalists of a country that had gone through this war we cannot stay indifferent to the facts of cynical denouncement of the values of contemporary civilisation, demanding for zero tolerance to such cases.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB ‘ASPAREZ’
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE – ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
JOURNALISTS FOR FUTURE
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GORIS PRESS CLUB
FEMIDA

On 14 April, 2021, Arman Tatoyan, the RA Human Rights Defender announced that Ani Gevorgyan, journalist from the website Tert.am, had applied to him informing that she had received threats in different social media in connection with performance by her of her professional journalistic activities. In particular, several users had disseminated a photo of her and her child along with insulting and degrading texts.

Taking note of HRD Arman Tatoyan’s intention to send a letter to the RA Police and that Ani Gevorgyan has already reported the case to the law enforcement authorities, we hereby record an increase in the cases of attacks and pressure on journalists both in the social media and during mass political protests. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to develop a culture of civilized political debate within our society and confronting any dissent with hatred, swear words and threats still remains widespread. Furthermore, no regard whatsoever is paid to the danger of illegally publicizing the photos and other personal data of minors. Under these circumstances special attention by the law enforcement authorities to the problem and taking adequate countermeasures becomes even more demanded.

We, the undersigned journalistic organizations, condemn any form of pressure on media representatives, especially if this is connected with a criminally punishable act, such as a threat to a journalist or his/her close relative. Underlining the importance of the precedent of a journalist applying to a state institution, we demand that:

• The RA Police take steps to ensure Ani Gevorgyan’s safety, to identify and hold liable the users that have insulted and threatened her in social networks.
• The political forces and their proponents demonstrate more restraint in respect of journalists and the media performing their professional duty regardless of their focus, disseminated ideas and views.

We call on journalists to voice any incident of violation of their rights, which will contribute to giving publicity to the issue and effectively protecting the rights of media workers.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
CENTER FOR MEDIA INITIATIVES
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
JOURNALISTS FOR FUTURE
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GORIS PRESS CLUB
FEMIDA NGO

On 24 March, 2021, the National Assembly adopted in the second reading and completely the legislative draft amending the RA Civil Code authored by Mr Alen Simonyan, Deputy Speaker of the NA, raising the damages awards for insult and defamation to 3 mln and 6 mln AMD, respectively.

This amendment is extremely dangerous, especially if we take into account the propensity of the representatives of the state authorities, politicians and other public figures to perceive even objective criticism as insult and defamation and apply to the court. If we add to this the total lack of independence of the judiciary, judgments following such complaints may become fatal for the further activities of the media.

This essentially means that contrary to the calls and pleadings of the media organisations and the expert community, the legislature approved of a repressive initiative related to the field of the media, which is not backed by any profound professional research and analysis, and is solely conditioned by narrow political interests.

The initial version of the draft, which was adopted in the first reading, foresaw multiplying the upper thresholds of damages awards for insult and defamation by five. Later, in the course of the deliberations in the NA it was decided to multiply them by three. This, however, cannot be deemed as a compromise in the solution of the problem as these amounts are not comparable with the financial-economic situation of the country and the finances of the media.

Without any intention whatsoever to defend those that commit defamation and insult, we, the undersigned media organisations, reaffirm that these amendments will cause a significant damage to freedom of expression and restrict the medias’ ability to criticise objectively. Apart from this, it may become a trigger for the courts to adopt more severe judgments against the media.

It is obvious that this legislative intitiative undermines the balance between the right to freedom of expression foreseen by Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights and the right to privacy foreseen by Article 8 of the same Convention. This amendment also neglects an important provision from the Decision No 997 of the Constitutional Court dated 15 November 2011, according to which while determining a damages award for insult and defamation found in publications, note should be taken of the medias’ finances to avoid a situation whereby liability leads to bankruptsy.

In view of the aforesaid, we call on the:

• RA President not to sign the Law on Amendments to the RA Civil Code and refer it to the RA Constitutional Court to verify whether it conforms to the RA Constitution and the precedent set by the Decision No 997 dated 15 November 2011 of the same Court.
• International organisations to publicly deplore the legislative amendments raising the damages awards for defamation and insult and to call on the authorities to review this initiative endangering freedom of speech in Armenia.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
CENTER FOR MEDIA INITIATIVES
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
JOURNALISTS FOR FUTURE
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GORIS PRESS CLUB
FEMIDA NGO

On 19 March, Mr Sargis Aleksanyan, a founding member of the Civil Contract party publicly addressed swear words to Mr Arman Tatoyan, the RA Human Rights Defender on his Facebook page. The reason was the HRD’s statement, condemining the violence exerted by Mr Hakob Arshakyan, RA Minister for High Technologies in respect of journalist Paylak Fahradyan. This post containing swear words were hailed by some of other representatives of the authorities, including Mr Nikolay Baghdasaryan, member of parliament. Other similar posts were disseminated in defence of Hakob Arshakyan whose authors demonstrated disrespectful attitude to the HRD, essentially for consistently performing his professional obligations.

We, the undersigned organisations, are concerned about this indecent conduct and condemn such incidents. This is the consequence of the atmosphere of hatred and intolerance in the country when even adequate criticism in respect of this or that public figure is perceived as a ‘hostile act,’ generating aggressive response.

It is of utmost importance that the impermissible conduct of politicians and their proponents is publicly condemned and the culprits are punished severely under the law. We hereby remind that according to Article 332.2 of the Criminal Code, “Threatening the Human Rights Defender in connection with the exercise of his/her powers, or demonstrating an explicitly direspectful attitude to him/her is punished by a fine in the amount of 200  – 500 x the minimum salary or detention for a period of 1-3 months.”

Perhaps this attitude of the representatives of the ruling political force conditions the underestimation of the HRD’s large-scale work and giving a political context to it. The Government’s proposal on the funding of the HRD’s office is even more worrying and can negatively impact the independence guarantees of this institute. We believe that in the post-war context when numerous new threats have emerged and the role of the HRD has increased significantly along with the volume of its work such an attitude is inacceptable. Incidentally, this problem has been addressed by the highly reputable international organisation Freedom House, which stressed that such approaches may deepen the crisis in Armenia and that the authorities must ensure smooth activities of the human rights institutions.

In the light of the aforesaid, we demand that:

• The Civil Contract party and the NA My step faction publicly condemn the swear words addressed to the HRD and apologise to Arman Tatoyan, hold the culprits liable and provide guarantees for the prevention of such conduct in the future.
• The NA leadership form an ethics commission with a view to examining the issue and officially publicise the adopted conclusion.
• The ruling political force review the non-objective assessment of the HRD’s work and exclude such changes of the ways of funding of the HRD’s office that may reduce the independence and efficiency thereof.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE – ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
JOURNALISTS FOR FUTURE
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GORIS PRESS CLUB
FEMIDA NGO

Yesterday, on 18 March, Hakob Arshakyan, RA Minister for High Technologies exerted violence on Paylak Fahradyan, editor of the website www.irakanum.am in one of Yerevan cafes. Paylak Fahradyan had earlier approached the Minister and inquired why he was in a cafe during working hours. According to press publications, the conversation was unethical on both sides, following which the Minister punched the journalist and damaged his computer and cellphone.

It is really unprecedented for a Minister to resort to fists in his dealings with a journalist. This is yet another incident of extreme tension, mutual intolerance and indecent behaviour between the authorities and media workers. We have recorded such examples in the National Assembly and during many public events. High-ranking officials and politicians must be ready to appear in the focus of attention of the public and the media and demonstrate restraint in respect of the questions addressed to them. We would like to stress that journalists, in their turn, must abide by the law and standards of professional ethics.

We have all grounds to regard this incident as a result of inadeqaute response of the authorities to previous similar incidents. We find it surprising that some of Hakob Arshakyan’s team members are trying to make public statements and comments directly or indirectly justifying the incident of violence.

We, the undersigned media organisations, believe that exerting violence on journalists is impermissible and demand that:

• The Government and the Civil Contract party publicly condemn the Minister’s behaviour, examine the question of whether he should continue to remain in office and provide safeguards for the prevention of similar incidents in the future.
• The law enforcement authorities examine the details of the incident and provide a legal assessment thereof.

We call on journalists to avoid provocative attitude in dealings with public officials and politicians, in particular in cases when this does not contribute to the accomplishment of the journalistic mission of imparting objective information to the public.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE – ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
JOURNALISTS FOR FUTURE
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GORIS PRESS CLUB

On 23 February the media workers from Radio Liberty covering the events during a march following the protest act staged by the opposition forces were attacked in Yerevan. A group of protesters insulted and swore at them, threatened with closure of the radio station. Following this, some protesters started hitting journalist Artak Khulyan and cameraman Karen Chilingaryan and damaged the camera.

On the same day, during the police action in respect of the protesters the cameraman of the website Sputnik Armenia, Aram Nersisyan was punched. Earlier during the demonstration on 20 February again Radio Liberty was targetted. Narek Samsonyan, representative of the opposition obstructed the activities of the media outlet, and when the correspondent of the radio station applied to the policemen standing there, the latter showed indifference and inaction.

We have recorded cases in the course of the last months when the representatives of the authorities and their proponents demonstrated discriminatory and insulting attitude to journalists, targeting the opposition media workers.

We condemn the spreading of reciprocal hatred. Believing that this is unacceptable we are convinced that the responsibility for any aggression in respect of the media workers lies with the organisers of demonstrations and marches, which inculcate intolerance in respect of ‘not their own’ media outlets. A vivid example of the aforesaid is the incident with Radio Liberty: the opposition has for quite a while inspired distrust towars this media outlet among its proponents telling them that it works in the interest of Pashinyan’s government.

We, the undersigned media organisations note that this does not contribute to public mobilisation, which is of utmost importance today. And since the mass protests tend to continue, we demand that:

• The RA Police take measures to prevent any obstruction of the media activity, detect the participants of the above incidents who have exerted violence and hold them liable, as well as hold official inquiries to assess the lawfulness of the actions taken;
• The organisers of the opposition protests send clear messages to their proponents and followers on the impermissibility of any aggression and intolerance in respect of the media, irrespective of their political orientation.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
CENTER FOR MEDIA INITIATIVES
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB ‘ASPAREZ’
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE – ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
JOURNALISTS FOR FUTURE
JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS
GORIS PRESS CLUB

On 17 February the draft law on Amendments to the RA Criminal Code authored by the RA Prosecutor’s Office and the Ministry of Justice was posted on www.e-draft.am for public scrutiny. It foresees a penalty in the range of 100 000 to 500 000 AMD for defamation and insult of a public official exercising their powers within public and local self-government bodies and a penality in the range of 500 000 to 3 000 000 AMD or imprisonment for up to 2 years if the act is committed via a mass media outlet or otherwise in public.

This draft is the logical development of a series of legislative initiatives tabled by the authorities with a view to curbing the right to freedom of speech and media activity. As early as 2010, the undersigned organisations were involved in the decriminalisation of defamation and insult in Armenia in pursuit of the ultimate goal of developing a legislative framework commensurate with the tenets of a democratic society. Today, we are experiencing profound disappointment with the fact that the authorities brought to power by the 2018 revolution are foreseeing unacceptable restrictions on freedom of expression through a number of regressive initiatives.

The impression is that the authors of the above amendments to the RA Criminal Code are totally unaware of the Council of Europe requirements and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights on this topic, which are binding for the members of these structures, including Armenia. We refer in particular to the PACE  Resolution No 1577 (2007), paragraph 17․6 of which prescribes removing from defamation and insult legislation any additional protection to public officials in conformity with the ECtHR case law.

It is not our purpose here to protect defamers and insulters. However, we believe it is necessary to remind the authorities that the representatives of the state power and public figures must demonstrate greater tolerance to any criticism and be conscious that whilst exercising their powers they are under close public and media scrutiny. Moreover, according to the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, media and journalists are entitled to a certain degree of exaggeration and provocation. We must not neglect that very often public officials and politicians perceive objective media criticism as insult and defamation and resort to courts in retaliation. Criminal liability, including by imprisonment foreseen by these amendments may act as an instrument to reduce to a minimum the public officials’ public accountability.

In view of the aforesaid we demand that։

• The RA Government withdraws the draft law in question on Amendments to the RA Criminal Code;
• The legislative and the executive branches rethink the policy of media regulation by means of disproportionate restrictions and initiate broad public discussions with a view to finding adequate solutions to the existing problems;
• The international organisations keep these worrying legislative processes threatening with a backsliding in democracy and human rights in the focus of their attention.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE – ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
“JOURNALISTS FOR THE FUTURE” NGO
“JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” NGO
GORIS PRESS CLUB
“RULE OF LAW” HUMAN RIGHTS NGO

On 11 February, 2021, the parliament adopted a draft law authored by Alen Simonyan, Vice Speaker of the parliament, in the first reading, according to which the maximum amount of damages awards in defamation and insult cases must be multiplied by five to reach 10 mln and 5 mln AMD, respectively. We hereby note that yet another time the National Assembly is adopting legislation concerning the mass media, which is not founded on profound research and advice of competent experts.

This said, on 16 September when the above draft was first circulated we made a statement, noting that drastic increase of the damages awards may create serious threats for the whole media field, detrimenting not only indecent platforms but also journalists respecting the law and professional ethics, especially if we take into consideration that very often it is the good faith criticism of the media that is perceived as defamation or insult and result in judicial disputes.

We hereby reassert that the proposed amendment undermines the balance between the right to freedom of expression guaranteed by Article 10 of the European Convention and the right to reputation as an element of the right to privacy guaranteed by Article 8 of the same Convention. Apart from this, it undermines the important principle reflected in the Decision No 997 of the Constitutional Court dated 15 November 2011, according to which when awarding damages in defamation and insult cases it is necessary to consider the financial situation of media outlets in order for such liability not to destroy them.

This draft that has passed its first reading is even more worrying in the light of the facts that solution to the problems in the field of the media is being sought by means of repressive legislative amendments and their enforcement. A vivid example of the aforesaid is the package of amendments to the Law on Mass Communication and the Code of Administrative Violations, which foresee references to anonymous sources in publications and a fine in the amount of 500 000 AMD for breaching this ban and in the amount of 1 mln AMD in case of repetitive violations.

In the circumstances of such regressive initiatives any step of the authorities in the field of the media will be perceived as a pressure on freedom of speech conditioned by narrow personal interests and priorities, as is the case of restrictions imposed by the NSS in respect of the media work in some areas in Syunik. The statements and clarifications made in this respect, as well as the actions taken create a lot of uncertainty, are controversial and inspire search for hidden agendas behind them.

Taking into consideration the unacceptable processes, which are taking place, as well as the likely negative implications of the legislative amendments concerning defamation and insult, we, the undersigned organizations, demand that:

•  The National Assembly postpones the second reading and adoption of the above draft, and initiates public discussions on the problem of defamation and insult imparted by the media and the possible countermeasures to this;
• The RA President refuses to sign the law in case it is adopted by the NA, expressing his clear position on this regressive initiative;
• The state institutions ensure the fulfilment of the rights to freedom of information and access to information when building their relations with the mass media;
• The international organizations discuss the problems of adoption of legislation concerning the media by the RA parliament in blatant neglect of the related international norms, as well as take measures to rectify the situation.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION
YEREVAN PRESS CLUB
MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER
JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”
FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER
MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA
PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB
“JOURNALISTS FOR THE FUTURE” NGO
“JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” NGO
GORIS PRESS CLUB

On the evening of November 12, 2020, the words of an Artsakh war veteran were played back on the large screen placed in Yerevan’s Republic square, which contained swearing and hate speech, threats of violence and murder. A part of the video was also broadcast on Public Television of Armenia.

Following the pogroms organized against the authorities, now it looks as though the authorities themselves do not wish to discriminate in the means of political struggle.

The escalating internal political confrontations in these crucial times for Armenia are pulling the society further apart, which can lead to irreversible consequences. As to the media and especially so in the case of the public broadcaster, their prime mission should be to consolidate the society and act responsibly in the face of the hard challenges facing the country.

We, the undersigned media organizations, express our support for the assessments and demands put forth by Arman Tatoyan, Human Rights Defender of Armenia, in a Facebook post. We strictly condemn dissemination of speech containing hate, swearing and threats, as well as the broadcasting of similar materials by the Public Television.

We also demand:

• The authorities to express a public position on the fact of publicizing hate, animosity and calls for violence, and hold responsible those officials, who have organized and carried out this impermissible action;

• The Council of the Public Television and Radio Company to implement due oversight over the broadcast content and exclude animosity and inciting violence in these difficult times for the country;

• The private media to act with utmost sense of responsibility, cover issues in a comprehensive and balanced manner, in accordance with the professional journalistic ethics.

We call on our compatriots not to give way to provocations, be it from the opposition or the authorities, and refrain from actions, which could lead to civil unrest.

COMMITTEE TO PROTECT FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION

YEREVAN PRESS CLUB

MEDIA INITIATIVES CENTER

JOURNALISTS’ CLUB “ASPAREZ”

FREEDOM OF INFORMATION CENTER

MEDIA DIVERSITY INSTITUTE-ARMENIA

PUBLIC JOURNALISM CLUB

“JOURNALISTS FOR THE FUTURE” NGO

“JOURNALISTS FOR HUMAN RIGHTS” NGO

GORIS PRESS CLUB